Attack of the Puking Virus

You reach over to click your buddy's computer mouse to show him a video. Then you put your hand on your mouth to stifle your laughter.

Sometime in the next 24 to 48 hours, you're hit with a wave of nausea and run to the bathroom to blow chunks. Say hello to the norovirus. That innocuous mouse-click delivered the bug to your body, and you'll be sidelined for days.

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Worse, if you stuck around at work, you may have spread the virus further.

Millions have been hit with the stomach bug already this season. It has forced the shutdown of hospital wings in Great Britain, New York, and Boston. It has invaded college dorms and nursing homes and schools of all levels.

This isn't an ominous, unlikely threat like avian flu. It's real, and it's happening all over the country. The virus is always around, but outbreaks typically spike in winter—and the spike started early this year. The good part: It won't kill you.

If you're a typical healthy young male, you'll spend 1 to 3 days in close proximity to a toilet because of the vomiting and diarrhea. And if you're smart and thoughtful, you'll stay away from work for a day or two after recovering, because you can still spread the illness.

An outbreak in Boston earlier this year infected about 3,700 people and wings of two hospitals were shut down. An outbreak in New York City also closed part of a hospital.

Your best bet for avoiding it: Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with warm water and soap. And when you're out in public, try not to touch your eyes, nose, and mouth.

"It's a hard habit to get into, but I make a conscious effort to do so," says Mark Gendreau, M.D., an emergency-medicine specialist who studies infectious diseases for the Lahey Clinic, in Burlington, Massachusetts.

And if you get the illness, stay home 48 hours after symptoms end—you're still contagious.

"Norovirus" refers to a group of viruses that live in the gut and cause illnesses variously called gastroenteritis, food poisoning, or stomach flu, though it's not influenza. It's also known as the Norwalk Virus, named after a 1960s outbreak in Norwalk, Ohio.

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Norovirus is easily spread, which is why it can race through cruise ships, hospitals, and schools. Just a tiny amount of the virus can cause an infection that will sicken a person.

It spreads between people via contaminated surfaces, food, or water.

Go to the next page to learn more about how it spreads...

For example, if you puked before you got to the bathroom, the virus can become airborne and land on nearby surfaces, which then gets picked up by unsuspecting hands. Even getting to the toilet doesn't always help if your hands and nearby surfaces aren't thoroughly washed. Same principle applies to the diarrhea.

Dormitories and other shared living spaces are hotbeds for infection.

"If the outbreak is not under control, it can contaminate the environment very quickly," Terry Burger, Director of Infection Control for the Lehigh Valley Hospital in Pennsylvania says.

After an infected person vomits or defecates, the area needs to be "consistently and methodically cleaned with a bleach-based solution to kill the norovirus," Burger says. There are so many strains of the norovirus that it is even possible to re-infect yourself.

"If a person with a poor immune system gets norovirus they can be re-infected by the same strain a few weeks or months down the line," says Dr. Marc-Alain Widdowson of the viral gastroenteritis section of the Centers for Disease Control.

He recommends banning other family members from using the same toilet as the infected person while the illness runs its course.

"Practicing hygiene is all you can really do," Dr. Gendreau says.

A few more tips to avoid infection—and to avoid infecting others.

• Adhere to a strict hand-washing regimen. Most guys don't adequately disinfect their hands. The Mayo Clinic says to rub all surfaces of your hands (including the backs and wrists) for 15-20 seconds with soap and warm water, and close off the faucet with a disposable towel.

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